Atom: http://mail-archives.apache.org/mod_mbox/www-community/?format=atom
Title: Committers' FAQ
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This document is targeted at Apache *committers*. A committer is an
individual who was given write access to one or more of the codebases
hosted by the ASF. If you are not a committer, you'll find this document
totally useless since all the information presented assumes that you have
an account on the ASF server and only committers do. So, if you are not a
committer, but wish to become one, start with the instructions on [how to
contribute](contributors.html).

# Contents #

[TOC]

# General Questions # {#general}

## I have just been elected a Committer, so what I should do now? ## {#new-committers-guide}

Read the [Guide for new committers](new-committers-guide.html). That guide
is also useful for existing committers, and provides links to other sources
of information.

## What Is ApacheCon? ## {#apachecon}

The Apache Software Foundation periodically organizes
[conferences](http://www.apachecon.com) focusing on software developed by
Apache and on the way that Apache develops its software. Learn about what's
happening at Apache, hack code and meet the faces associated with the
names!

## What Is A Hackathon? ## {#hackathon}

A face-to-face gathering for the hacking of code.

## What Is An Infrathon? ## {#infrathon}

A face-to-face gathering for work on the Apache infrastructure.

## What Is PlanetApache? ## {#planetapache}

[Planet Apache](http://planet.apache.org/committers) aggregates RSS feeds
from Apache committers. It is run by the ASF and committers with blogs are
welcomed. See the contents of the `committers/planet` directory in the
private repository.

## I need to request some changes to infrastructure? ## {#infrastructure-change-request}

You might notice something that needs changing, for example the
configuration for a mailing list. The request to the infrastructure@ list
or the apmail@ alias needs to come from your Project Management Committee.
That ensures that the requests are official, and not just an individual
user's desire. This is the same for all requests for infrastructure
changes. However, please try to get your PMC to assist first. There are
many things that the PMC or PMC chair can do, thereby easing the load on
the infrastructure team.

## What does the Infrastructure Team use for communicating with the public? ## {#infrastructure-public-communications}

Infrastructure has the infrastructure-dev@ mailing list to discuss new
infrastructure developments at the ASF. For service downtime announcements
and current information on operations, we use
[http://twitter.com/infrabot](http://twitter.com/infrabot). For general
announcements regarding services and the like, infrastructure has a
[blog](http://blogs.apache.org/infra).

## Being committed and managing my energy ## {#volunteer}

Heed the warnings in these two email threads (read them all the way
through): [What is a
member](http://mail-archives.apache.org/mod_mbox/www-community/200311.mbox/%3c3FC1C5BD.3060406@apache.org%3e)
and
[volunteeritis](http://mail-archives.apache.org/mod_mbox/www-community/200311.mbox/%3c4A16CAE8-2130-11D8-9668-000393753936@gbiv.com%3e).
The discussion is about what it means to be a committed person at the ASF
and how to deal with your internal pressure that arises from such
dedication.

We each need to re-read those two important messages from time-to-time and
remind our communities.

## What machines do I have access to? ## {#machines}

`people.apache.org` ([documentation](new-committers-guide#ssh-setup))

## What can (and can't) I do on those machines? ## {#can-cant}

You have a shell account and can publish a website, as [described
elsewhere](new-committers-guide#personal-web-space).  You should avoid storing
secret keys (the private half of an SSH keypair, or a PGP private key) on any
ASF machines.

## How Long Will It Take For A CLA To Be Registered? ## {#cla-registration}

The short answer is: it depends. You shouldn't be worried until a week or
two has passed since the date you expected the document to arrive.

When a [CLA](http://www.apache.org/licenses/#clas) is submitted, there are
several stages to the process.

The first is that it has to arrive in the hands of an Officer of the ASF.
For emailed and faxed documents, this is quick. For snail mailed documents,
this is sometimes slow and often very slow if posted from outside the US.

The second is that the document has to be acknowledged by the ASF
Secretary. Acknowledged documents are noted in the appropriate file in the
foundation repository.

The third stage is waiting until you know that the ASF has registered the
document. ASF members can watch the commit records or check the file.
Others will need to wait until Jim's
[page](http://people.apache.org/~jim/committers.html) is regenerated from
that file and so they may experience an additional delay.

## How do I start a new project in the ASF? ## {#new-project}

Or move a project into the ASF?

Please contact the [Incubator Project](http://incubator.apache.org/). They
will assist you in starting projects or moving them into the ASF.

[Apache Labs](http://labs.apache.org/) could also be for you if you want to
start something new.

## Is there a way to see a graph of loads (CPU, I/O, network)? ## {#statistics}

[Henk Penning](http://people.apache.org/~henkp/) and [Vadim
Gritsenko](http://people.apache.org/~vgritsenko/stats/) have such
statistics and cool charts.

## What are the responsibilities of a Committer? ## {#committer-responsibilities}

**Note:** this is an incomplete collection and not authoritative.

As an Apache volunteer, you have the right to set your own priorities and
do the work that scratches your own itch. As a Committer, you have a
responsibility to the community to help create a product that will outlive
the interest of any particular volunteer (including yourself). This means,
for example, that the code that you commit should be clear enough that
others not involved in its current development will be able to maintain and
extend it. It also means that you are responsible for helping to grow and
maintain the health of the Apache community.

More specific responsibilities of Committers include:

**Deciding on release plans and releases** 
:    A prime responsibility of the Committers is to decide when a branch of
     code is ready for release. A release is not to be taken lightly; each
     release must uphold the Apache tradition of quality. Each Project
     Management Committee formally authorizes the distribution of releases
     to the public.

**Applying patches** 
:    In order to grow and maintain healthy communities, committers need to
     discuss, review and apply patches submitted by volunteers. The
     Committers are also responsible for the quality and IP clearance of
     the code that goes into ASF repositories.

**Helping users** 
:    Committers should monitor both the dev and user lists for the projects
     that they work on and (collectively) provide prompt and useful
     responses to questions from users.

**Monitoring commits and issues** 
:    Committers should review commit email messages for their projects and
     point out anything that looks funny or that may bring in IP issues.
     Monitoring Bugzilla / Jira for bugs or enhancement requests is also a
     responsibility of Committers.

**Helping out with the web site** 
:    The main Apache web site and the project web sites are in constant
     need of maintenance. The Committers on a project are expected to
     collectively maintain the project's web site. The Apache Committers as
     a whole share the responsibility to maintain the main Apache site.

## Is there a set term for acting as a Committer? Will I have to be elected again? ## {#committer-set-term}

Merit never expires. If you become inactive for a time (usually six months
or more) your account may be deactivated for security reasons. Most
projects allow reactivation of committer status by application to the pmc.

Some projects use the concept of a `emeritus` committer status. This is
typically suitable for those committers who can no longer they can give the
time they feel is required.

## What are the core beliefs of The Apache Way? ## {#apache-way}

**Note:** While there is not an official list, the following six
principles have been cited as the core beliefs of The Apache Way:

- collaborative software development

- commercial-friendly standard license

- consistently high quality software

- respectful, honest, technical-based interaction

- faithful implementation of standards

- security as a mandatory feature

## I'm Told That The Host Key Has Changed When I To Login To My Apache Account. What Should I Do? ## {#host-key-change}

Any message about a change to the host key should be taken very seriously:
it may indicate a man-in-the-middle attack is in progress.

**Do not ignore this message and continue.** 

Before contacting the Apache infrastructure team, check that you are
logging in to the correct machine. The permanent home for Apache accounts
is `people.apache.org`.

The SSH fingerprints for the host key can be found here:
[new-committers-guide.html#spoof](new-committers-guide.html#spoof) 

## How Do I Bring Code Developed Outside Apache To An Existing Project? ## {#code-import}

For any substantial codebase that has been developed outside the ASF, a
small amount of process is required before the code can be committed. This
is managed by the [Incubator](http://incubator.apache.org). The first step
is to contact your [PMC](pmc.html#import).

## What Do I Need To Keep In Mind When Applying Patches From A Contributor? ## {#applying-patches}

You need to make sure that the commit message contains at least the name of
the contributor and ideally a reference to the Bugzilla or JIRA issue where
the patch was submitted. The reasons: this preserves the legal trail and
makes sure that contributors are recognized. Obviously, the latter doesn't
mean it's not a good idea to list the names of all contributors somewhere
on the website. To make it easier to "grep" for commits with patches from
contributors, always use the same pattern in the commit message.
Traditionally, we use "Submitted by: <name>" or "Obtained from:
<name>".

Here's an example of what such a commit message could look like:
<code><pre>
Bugzilla #43835:
Added some cool new feature.
Submitted by: John Doe &lt;john.doe.at.null.org&gt;</pre></code>

# Version Control Questions # {#svn}

## Why Do I Get An Authorization Failure When I Try To Access SVN? ## {#svn-authorization-failure}

The most common reason is that you've forgotten your password!

The password used for subversion is the same as the password you use
for access to `people.apache.org`. You will not be prompted to enter it
frequently. This makes it is easy to forget.

Apache employs a number of different HTTP authentication realms. You will
need to enter your password whenever you access a new realm. (Subversion
prints information about the realm when you are prompted for the password.)
 
Of course, it is also possible that you're accessing an url which is
restricted. That's probably for a good reason so unless you know that you
should have access, don't bother the infrastructure team.

If you do forget your password please visit <https://id.apache.org/> to reset it. 

## Where is the committers/ module? ## {#committers-module}

In Subversion, url: `https://svn.apache.org/repos/private/committers` 

## Why Do I Get a 403 When I Try To Commit? ## {#commit-403}

Run `svn info` and check that the URL starts with https://.  If it starts with
http://, run:

    $ svn switch --relocate http://svn.apache.org https://svn.apache.org

If you still get 403 Forbidden errors, ask your PMC to double-check the authz
file and LDAP/Unix group membership.

## When Do I Need To Use svn lock? ## {#lock}

Very rarely if ever. Please read [this](version-control.html#lock).

## Where Can I Find More Information? ## {#version-control-faq}

The [Version Control FAQ](version-control.html).

# Mail Questions # {#mail}

## How do I setup my email account? ## {#email-setup}

See these [instructions](user-email.html).

## How do I request the creation of a new mail list? ## {#new-mailing-list}

Mail lists are the virtual room where the communities live, form and grow.
It is wiser to keep the number of mail lists per codebase the smallest
possible to allow the community to reach that critical mass that is
necessary to bootstrap a codebase and keep it in good shape.

At the same time, as communities grow, the need for more specialized mail
lists appears. This is the suggested chain of actions to request the
creation of a new mail list:

- Request a vote in the community

- If the creation is accepted, your Project Management Committee needs to
send in a request (more [details](infra-contact#requesting-action) ).
**WARNING:** the creation of a user mail list can be a very dangerous thing
for a community if the developers don't pay attention to their users and if
users don't have developers that reply to their emails. Sure, active
developers should expect a well behaving user community to reply to one
another for simple questions, but this doesn't happen overnight and the
creation of a user mail list alone can turn into a very harmful change.

## How do I find out how many people are subscribed to a list? ## {#list-subscribers}

Moderators can send an email to:

<tt><var>listname</var>-list@<var>tlp</var>.apache.org</tt>

Anyone with
access to the apmail account can run the following command to get a count
of the subscribers.

<tt>ezmlm-list~/lists/<var>project</var>/<var>listname</var>| wc -l</tt>

Remember that
there often are people subscribed to the digest version
too:

<tt>~lists/<var>project</var>/<var>listname</var>/digest</tt>

However,
most committers do not have access to apmail. See the notes in the
"committers" SVN module at /docs/resources.txt for another way.

## How do I request changes for mail list moderators? ## {#mailing-list-moderators}

Ask your PMC to send a request to the apmail alias.

If you have access to apmail, you can just change the list of subscribers
to list/mod. For example for the mod_perl dev list that is in

`~apmail/lists/perl.apache.org/dev/mod/` 

Use `ezmlm-list` , `ezmlm-sub` and `ezmlm-unsub` to do that.

To determine who the existing moderators are, any committer can use the
technique described in the "committers" SVN module at /docs/resources.txt

## I am a moderator and receive these "MODERATE" emails. ## {#mail-moderate}

First look in the mail and check if it is spam (or other severely misguided
mail). If it is spam then just ignore the mail to have it silently dropped
after 5 days. To bounce non-spam with a notice to the sender, reply to the
**-reject** address in the mail header. If you wish to include a comment
with the rejection, the body of the message should look like this:<pre>
%%% Start comment
Your message goes here...
%%% End comment
</pre>

If it is legitimate mail from a non-subscriber (or someone sending with a
different envelope sender than the one subscribed), reply to the moderate
request to the **-accept** address. If you also send mail to the **-allow**
address (i.e. reply to all) then future postings from that address will be
allowed through automatically.

If there is no **-allow** address in the moderate requests the list was
misconfigured when it was setup and you should contact
[apmail@apache.org](mailto:apmail@apache.org) and get them to enable remote
administration.

See the [EZMLM](http://www.ezmlm.org/) "Moderator's and Administrator's
Manual". You can also send email to {listname}-help@tlp.apache.org from
your moderation address (there are extra details for moderators).

Some lists are only open to ASF committers. The moderators have methods to
ensure that subscribers are committers, so subscribers can use whatever
email address that they want. Moderators see the tips described in the
"committers" SVN module at /docs/resources.txt

## Moderation: dealing with problem posts ## {#problem_posts}

If you have a troublesome poster, then you can un-subscribe them from the
list using 

`{listname}-unsubscribe-badboy=menace.com@tlp.apache.org`

(and send a courtesy email to them).

Occasionally you will get someone with a poorly-configured spam filter
sending automated replies to the list. You can deny their postings using

`{listname}-deny-subscribe-badposter=menace.com@tlp.apache.org`

(and send a courtesy email to them).

If someone (an unsubscribed user) was added to the moderation list 
(intentionally or unintentionally) and now they are sending spam to
the list, you can remove them by sending an email to:

`{listname}-allow-unsubscribe-badposter=menace.com@tlp.apache.org`

Note that to see a list of who is allowed to post on the moderation list
you can send an email to:

`{listname}-allow-list@tlp.apache.org`

## I didn't forward my mail before. How can I download my old mail? ## {#mail-forward}

When there is no `.forward` file then mail builds up in the `Mailbox` of
your `people.apache.org` home directory. This is a *bad thing*. Sooner or
later, all that mail will need to be downloaded.

Here is presented a simple method to move the mail from `people.apache.org`
into a [Thunderbird](http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/) mail
client. Copy the mailbox from your `people.apache.org` directory to your
local machine. For example:

    $ scp USER@people.apache.org:/home/USER/Mailbox /tmp/Mailbox

And then copy it into your Thunderbird Mail folder. For example:

    $ mv /tmp/Mailbox "thunderbird/profile/Mail/Local Folders"

The name of the directory might differ depending on your thunderbird
version and configuration.

That's all!

## Where Should Project Business Be Discussed? ## {#private-or-public}

Answered [here](pmc.html#private-or-public).

## I've Just Made My First Commit. Why Isn't A Commit Message Delivered? ## {#first-commit}

The most likely explanation is that the commit message is awaiting
moderation. Messages will be delivered promptly without moderation once the
moderator approves posts from your `apache.org` address.